Interest in metabolomics is growing at a considerable rate. Since 2000, there has been a steady increase in the number of PubMed™ citations per publication year that contain the term “metabolomics” in either the title or abstract fields. Although metabolomics is still an emerging technology, it has already been applied to a diverse set of problems in disparate areas such as pharmaceutical discovery and development, natural products research, and disease diagnosis, just to name a few. (Griffin, J. L., 2006, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 361(1465):147-61; Keun, H. C., 2006, Pharmacol Ther, 109(1-2):92-106; Rochfort, S., J. Nat Prod, 2005. 68(12):1813-2; Kristal, B. S. and Y. I. Shurubor, Sci Aging Knowledge Environ, 2005. 2005(26):pe19; Morris, M. and S. M. Watkins, 2005, Curr Opin Chem Biol 9(4):407-12; Witkamp, R. F., 2005, J Vet Pharmacol Ther, 28(3):235-45; Watkins, S. M. and J. B. German, 2002, Curr Opin Mol Ther, 4(3):224-8; Fiehn, O., 2002, Plant Mol Biol, 48(1-2):155-71).
The metabolism of an individual changes with age. Until recently the ability to monitor metabolite changes has been limited to targeted assays. With the development of metabolomics analysis, changes in metabolites can now be monitored globally in a non-targeted manner. This metabolomic approach allows a metabolic profile to be determined for a group or an individual.
As more information regarding the impact of nutrition on health-related issues becomes available and as the population ages, interest in health and nutrition has increased. The ability to determine the metabolite levels of an individual and classify the resulting metabolic profile as positive or negative and then to provide guidance as to how to improve a negative profile will have beneficial effects on the health of an individual.